We’re delighted to report comic creator RE Burke, aka Becky Burke, who was detained in the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for over two weeks for travelling with the wrong visa, has been released and is back in the UK.
As we previously reported, Becky, 28, was denied entry into Washington State after US immigration officials accused her of travelling on the wrong visa, her plight prompting a massive campaign to free her.
In a short statement on BSky, the family confirmed yesterday Becky, who is currently ill, is back with her parents in Britain.
“Thank you everyone for your support,” they wrote. If Becky’s story moved you, please get involved in an organisation that supports imprisoned immigrants. Where Becky was held one is Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
“I’m sure we’ll hear more from Becky once she’s had time to recover from her illness and trauma.”
Delighted by the news, Andy Oliver, publisher of the Broken Frontier comic site which Becky previously worked on, commented he was “happy that Becky was home.
“But that only makes this a more important time to remember on a far wider level the plight of so many mistreated at borders,” he continued. “We have a comic resource list here on the ordeals of refugees/immigrants face.”
The list includes Our Stories Carried Us Here, published by Green Card Voices in 2021; and The Power of Welcome: Real-Life Refugee and Migrant Journeys, by Marie Bamyani, Ada Jusic, Nadine Kaadan, Ramzee and Sonya Zhurenko, published by Scholastic in 2023, a powerful graphic novel exploring the struggle for survival of displaced people, featuring true stories from Ukraine, Somalia, Bosnia, Syria and Afghanistan.
We’d also recommend Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, with art by Giovanni Rigano, published by Hachette Children’s Group in 2018, a powerful and timely story about one boy’s epic journey across Africa to Europe.
Ms Burke’s father, Paul, has said he and his wife had been “living in a nightmare we can’t wake up from,” as they grappled with the distress of their daughter being incarcerated in a foreign country.
He issued a warning to travellers to be “very careful” following his daughter’s ordeal and urged backpackers to “double-check and triple-check the visa requirements” when travelling between countries.
In normal times, R. E. Burke, also known as Becky Burke, is a non-stop artist and creator from Monmouthshire, who studied English and Philosophy at Bristol University, and then a postgraduate degree in Publishing Media at Oxford Brookes. Despite never studying art professionally, she has developed her craft persistently and with determination, alongside her ongoing education.
After finishing her masters, Becky moved to London, where she keeps working on new artistic projects as much as possible. She also wrote for the British comic news site Broken Frontier as Rebecca Burke between 2020 and 2023.
A GoFundMe campagn fund raised over £9000 to cover legal Becky’s costs and flight home (the latter a US immigration requirement to secure release). No more donations are being taken. Any surplus will be donated to charities in the Seattle area helping people in similar situations.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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